Let me start by trying to justify this crazy rant I’m about to go on. No, don’t get up…

But Apple’s recent announcement that OS X has gone bye-bye in favor of “macOS” will do nothing for the Mac except accelerate its downward spiral as a fringe hardware product.

Which platform are you looking at? As far as “desktop” computers go, the Mac has done far better over the last five years than its competitors.

…the “Big Three” [operating systems] share the complexity of numbering suffixes when it comes to their OS names.

Yeah, sure, the Mac’s numbering scheme — which has been consistent since 10.0 — is just as confusing as that of Windows since it was XP. And then Vista. And then 7. Then 8. Followed by 8.1, then Hamilton 1.0, Goober McGooberface 4.x, aaaand finally Sheboygan Falls, WI, Home of the Johnsonville Sausage Company 3.2.1 for Workgroups.

All actual Windows release names. Look it up.

There are too many different kinds of Macs and subsets of Macs available for purchase.

This is not a completely crazy argument but there’s a reason. The MacBook Air is, most likely, on the way out. Apple is moving to an all-Retina lineup but these things don’t necessarily happen instantly.

Also, while there are “too many different kinds of Macs”, how many different kinds of Windows PCs are there? Has anyone successfully listed them all without going insane? There was that one guy who tried but they had to put him away.

Everyone who has ever considered, or has, a Mac, recognizes OS X as the Mac’s operating system.

Do they? The Macalope suspects that’s probably not true. Geeks like us certainly do, but if the Macalope had a nickel for every time he heard someone call an iPod touch and “iTouch” or an Apple Watch “the iWatch” he’d… well, he’d have like five bucks or something. Still, that’s a lot of nickels.

I understand that Apple has watchOS, tvOS and iOS in place for their Apple Watch, Apple TV and iPhone, respectively. Attaching “OS” to the end of a product’s name (as an operating system naming convention), is anything but representative of a company serious about simplification.

Making their OS names consistent is anything but simplifying things. Uhhhh… huh.

Bob, did someone force you to write this piece? Blink once for yes, twice for immediate extraction from Computerworld and delivery to a safe house outside of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Apple has operating system names for all of its products and that’s disconcerting.

More disconcerting than Computerworld devoting over 700 words to detailing how a name change indicates the Mac is doomed?

OS X is no more confusing than Windows 10.

Really? Not that it was a big deal, but how many people incorrectly pronounced it “ex” instead of “ten”? Heck, the Macalope sometimes did it.

Redmond hasn’t changed the name of its flagship operating system to microsoftOS.

No, they haven’t. It’s always been Windows. Now, did you want Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate?

…macOS is an appropriate name for an operating system on a once iconic personal computer Apple would prefer fades away.

Or, maybe Apple loves all its children the same.

Come on. OS X as a name is about as current as the X Games. The Macalope could easily argue that changing the name shows the exact opposite, that the company cares enough to not let the name get tired.

But he’s not going to bother. Because, seriously, who cares?

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